Pressed-metal steering wheel



Dec. 2s ,1926.

H'. D. GEYER PRESSED METAL STEERING WHEEL Filed April Eil Patented Elec. 23,

I0, ASISGNR TG INLAND MANFACTURNG are COMPANY, F DAYTON, GHIO, A CGBPORTEGN GF IDTLTARE.

This invention relatesV such as are ordinarily used as steer-v pecially rnnssnn-Mnfran srnnninewanna.

Application sied aprii es, 1925;

to handwheels esingV wheels on automotive vehicles.

A lai-ge item in the of metal spiders for as ordinarily made vis the cost ot of the metal hub piece to other parts which are steering shaft and costof manufacture such steering' wheels machining accurately fit the attached to said hub piece. This invention7 however, provides a metal from pressed metal patle Ior no machining thereot1 is greatly reduced.

ot component pressed much less than the cost of grey cast iron such as are of malleable or ordinarily used.

An object of this invention therefore is to provide a strong and Vhub piece built up rts which require litand hence the costl Also the cost metal parts is very cast metal hubs ecient steering wheel ot good appearance and which is capable ot economical Further objects and Linanutacture.

advantages ot the present invention will bev apparent from the following description, to the accompanying reference lbeing had drawings, wherein a preferred :torni of embodiment ot the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation 'ot an automobile steering wheel built according to this invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged tral portion thereof.

Fig. 3 is a vertical plan lview ot the cen# section on line 3-3 Fig. 11 is a vertical sect-ion 'on line 1L-4 of line 5--5 of Fig. 2.

ot Fig. 2.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a view on hub on line 6-6 ot Fig. 11.

Fig. y assembled together place. v

.Fig 8 is a perspective view 7 illustrates the-two main hub parts before the spokes are in ot one of the spokes which straddles the keyway in the central sleeve.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of another ot the spokes.

In the drawings similar reference characters refer to similarseveral views.

parts throughout the Numeral 10 designates the steering wheel riin which may be made in any well known manner and hencey wil detail herein.

l not be described in Serial No. 26,422.

rBhe inner sleeve 11 ot the hub is herein shownhas ot cylindrical form, that is, it is adaptedy to lit a cylindrical steering shaft rather'thau a tapered sha-tt, both forms ot steeringshafts now being common. inner sleeve 11 is preferably made from a short length of' low carbon seamless V'steel tubing. This tubing, which is ot relatively thin ductile metal, hasv the two keyways 12 depressed therein vby means of suitable dies, these keyway depressions forming the two longitudinal projections or tins 13 on the outer surface of the sleeve 11 (see Figs. 6 and 7).

The outer sleeve or cup member 15 is made of such diameter that itl will telescope over the inner sleeve 1,1 leaving an annular space 16 between said sleeve and cup 15 see Figs. 6 and 7). The cup 15 is provided at its bottom wit-han inwardly turned flange 1'? upon which the sleeve 11 rests as clearly shown in d. Thisfinwardly V'turned iiange 17 is cut away at 18 at the keyways 12 so as not to obstruct the keyways, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. The cup 15 is provided kat its upper edge with theflange 2O which preferably is shaped withio'ur projectingportions '21 which are adapted to .lit snugly uponl the under side of the tour spokes 25 and 25' (seeFigs. 3. L1 and 5)'. This cup member 15,'is preferably made by drawing out by suitable dies in a manner wellvunderstood by those skilled in the art a piece of flat. inet-al of sufficient ductility to permit sul drawing operations. By this method the flange 20 may be made integral with the cup15 and in a very economical manner.

The spokes and 25 have their inner ends flared out to abut one another along their radial edges 26 clearly shown in Fig. 2. Each of the spokes 25 has its inner end turned down forming an arcuate depending projection 27 (see Fig. 9), which lits snugly within the annular space 16 between the inner sleeve 11 and cup 15. Each ot Ythe spokes 25" is similar to the spokes 25 with thev exception that the depending projection is slotted out as clearly shown at 30 in Fig. 8, thus forming two arcuate depending projections 27 on each spoke 25. These depending projections 27 are inserted withinthe annular' space. 16, the tins 13 on the inner ysleeve 11 itting snugly within the slots 30 (see Fig. 2). t is thus seen that .This Y the depending projections 27 and 27 on the inner ends of the spider spokes substantially lill the annular space 16. (See Fig. 6.) Preferably these depending projections have a tight pressed lit within the annular space 16 so that the inner sleeve 11, the cup 15, and the four spokes are held rigidly together by this means. In order to more permanently hold these parts in rigid relation each of the spokes is preferably spot welded to the projection 21, lying immediately thereunder as shown at 31 in Figs. 2 and 3. If desired, a plurality of spot welds in each spoke end may be used instead of only one as has been shown in the drawings.

The spoke and hub parts having now been rigidly secured together an outer casing of thin sheet metal is preferably provided to cover the hub and inner ends of the spokes to present a more finished appearance and to more rigidly hold the parts together. This outer casing preferably comprises a pressed metal top cover plate 40 and a lower pressed metal cup 41. The cup 41 fits snugly up around the cup 15 to completely conceal the same and its upper edge is dared outwardly, as shown at 42 in Figs. 3 and 4, to conform substantially with the shape of the inner ends of the spokes. The top cover plate 4() likewise conforms with the plan shape of the inner ends of the spokes, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, and is provided at the curved edge between the spokes with a depending liange 43 which conceals theedges of the spokes and liange 20 and is crimped over on the under side of the edge of cup 41 to hold both the cup 41 and top cover plate 40 securely in place (see Figs. 4 and 5). Preferably the top cover plate 40 is provided with the beads 44 at the edges thereof where it projects out along the spokes in order to give a neater appearance to said cover plate 40 (see Figs. 2 and 3). If desired, the cover plate 40 may lie Hat over the inner ends of the spokes and the upper end of sleeve 11, but preferably an apertured disk 45 is provided which rests upon the upper end of sleeve 11,V the cover plate 40 being raised at its center to o verlie and hold in place this disk 45. This disk 45 extends over the. keyways 12, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, and so backs up the relatively thin metal of the cover plate 40 at these points. The top cover plate 40 and lower cover cup 41 are preferably made of thin sheet aluminum which when polished gives a neat appearance to the central portion of the spider. A a handwbeel spider is thus formed which is of pleasing appearance and which is very economical to manufacture since both the spokes and the hub parts are made of die-pressed metal which require no machining in yorder to tit together. Preferably the keyways 12 are breached to accurate dimensions after lirst being pressed out in a die, as above described, but otherwise the parts may be accurately shaped from sheet metal without machining operations. 0f course the spider may be fastened to the rim either by having its outer ends inserted in the rim or screwed thereto, both methods `of fastening being common.

l/Vhile the form of embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

lVhat is claimed is as follows:

1. A steering wheel spider comprising four pressed metal spokes and a pressed metal hub, said.l hub comprising: an inner sleeve having two diametrically opposed keyways pressed therein thereby forming two radially extending lins on the outer surface of said sleeve, an outer sleeve telescoped upon said fins thereby forming an annular space between said sleeves, said annular space beinginterrupted by said tins, said outer sleeve having an outwardly radially extending iiange at its upper edge; said spokes having their inner ends abutting each other on radial lines and resting upon said flange, each spoke having a downwardly turned lug extending within said annular Space; and means for rigidly securing said spokes to said flange.

2. A steering wheel spider comprising: an inner sleeve, an outer sleeve telescoped therewith but leaving an annular space between said sleeves, said outer sleeve having a radially extending flange at its upper edge, and a plurality of spokes having their inner ends abutting upon radial lines and lying upon said iiange, said spokes each having a depending lug inserted within said annular space, said inner slee-ve having a lateral torque carrying projection extending into said annular space, and means for rigidly holding all the parts together.

32A steering wheel spider built up from pressed metal parts comprising: a pressed metal sleeve adapted to fit upon a steering shaftand having a longitudinal keyway pressed therein thereby forming a torque carrying projection on the outer surface of said sleeve, an outer sleeve telescoped upon said inner sleeve and leaving an annular space between said sleeves, pressed metal spokes having their inner ends turned downward and fitting within said annular space and engaging said projection, and means for holding the spokes and sleeves rigidly together.

4. A steering wheel spider built up from pressed metal parts comprising: a pressed metal sleeve adapted to lit upon a steerinr shaft and having a longitudinal keyway pressed therein thereby forming a torque carrying projection on the outer surface of said sleeve, an outer sleeve telescoped upon lsaid inner' sleeve and leaving an annular space between said sleeves, pressed metal spokes having their inner ends turned downward, and having a tight tit within said annular space and engaging said projection.

5. A steering Wheel spider built up 'from pressed metal parts comprising: a pressed metal sleeve adapted to tit upon a steering shaft and having a loi'igitudinal keyway pressed therein thereby forming a torque carrying projection on the outer surface of said sleeve, an outer sleeve telescoped upon said inner sleeve and leaving an annular space between said sleeves, pressed metal spokes having their inner ends turned downward and having a tight t Within said annular space and engaging said projection, and a top cover plate over the built up hub portion and inner ends or the spokes.

6. A steering Wheel spider built up from pressed metal parts comprising: a pressed metal sleeve adapted to tit upon a steering shaft and having a longitudinal keyway pressed therein thereby forming a torque carrying projection on the outer surface of said sleeve, an outer sleeve telescoped upon said inner sleeve and leaving an annular space between said sleeves, pressed met-al spokes having their inner ends turned downward and having a tight fit Within said annular space and engaging said projection,

and top and bottom outer casings surrounding the built up hub and inner ends of the spokes.

7. The steps in the method of making a handwheel spider comprising: providing a suitable keyivay in a ductile metal sleeve by deforming the metal and thereby also providing a longitudinal tin on the outer suritace ol' said sleeve, telescoping an outer sleeve over said lirst sleeve leaving an annular space therebetween into which said fin projects, providing spider spokes having depending lugs on their inner ends and pressing said depending lugs Within said annular space to substantially lill said space.

8. The steps in the method of making a handwheel spider comprising: providing a suitable keyway in a ductile metal sleeve oi relatively thin metal by deforming the metal and thereby also providing a longitudinal iin on the outer surface of said sleeve, telescoping an outer sleeve over said first sleeve leaving an annular space therebetween into which said n projects, providing spider spokes having depending lugs on their inner ends and inserting said lugs Within said annular space to substantially fill said space, and then spot Welding said spokes in place to more securely hold all the parts rigidly together.

In testimony signature.

whereof I hereto arx my HARVEY D. GEYER. 

